NEW DELHI: The month of November began with the news of an 18-month-old child, abducted and sexually assaulted by a 33-year-old in the outskirts of Delhi, raising concerns over child safety in India’s capital, reported The Hindustan Times.
Speaking to the news organisation, Anant Kumar Asthana, a juvenile justice lawyer, said the huge migrant population with no community participation, taking away the secondary safety net that a child has in villages or even small towns, is what separates Delhi from less urbanised or rural areas.
“It is not just about nuclear families. Many victims are from families where both parents go out to leaving them under the care and protection of neighbours, who usually are not as vigilant as one’s own parents would be. This gives an opportunity to those on the prowl to assault children,” said Asthana.
“Also, these numbers may just be a fraction of the overall numbers as reporting rapes is still a taboo. That is again an area where work is needed to educate people to come and report cases even more so that they themselves desist,” added Bharati.
Both agreed that the recent trend of consumption of pornography by offenders was seen as a factor. Asthana cited an example of an 18-year-old offender who claimed pornography had left him with an uncontrollable urge.
Some experts told HT poor ‘pre-emptive’ measures were also a factor. Delhi Commission for Women [DCW] chairperson Swati Maliwal said despite requests to the Centre to constitute the high-level committee, which meets twice a month to work on issues of women safety, no measures were taken.
HT said the commission has previously blamed the police for shoddy investigations while the numbers showed low conviction rate. In 2016, the Delhi High Court had also highlighted the need of special courts and prosecutors to expedite trials.
Among other things, Asthana advocated that self-defence training and community participation in ensuring proper care were also important to keep a check on such crimes.
